7 Steps To Choosing Your Wedding Date
Your wedding date is going to be a little bunch of numbers with vast significance for the rest of your life. So if you’re the kind of person who has a little thing about numbers (you know, the type who regulates the TV volume by multiples of 5), then you should probably pay close attention when picking the BIG day.
It can seem a little daunting, we know. Where do you begin choosing a date for your wedding? But if you follow these 7 steps, you should arrive at reasonable conclusion of a few possible weeks which you can then present to venues when you embark on the great venue hunt.
Setting the date is the first big challenge you and your significant other will face in the wedding planning journey (and boy, it's a long one) so it's best to tackle it firstly together before having family input, so you can remain a united front on the matter!
So without further ado:
1. Whilst it’s true that whirlwind weddings can be done, in general you need at least 6 months. So, draw up a big list of the 52 weeks of the year, starting 6 months from now.
2. When you imagine your wedding, do you envisage outdoor drinkies and lawn games? Or fur stoles, twilight and hearty warm food? Run with the vision you both have, and cross out the weeks that are unlikely to correspond with it. For example, if you fancy an outdoorsy, sunny do, cross out October, -February, but stay open minded for March to September.
3. Now cross out any significant birthdays, holidays or events in the remaining time period. Planning a wedding the week after your Mums giant 60th bash she’s always dreamt of may prove to be a strain. Equally, having your wedding anniversary too close to one of your own birthdays could prove costly.
4. Any weeks containing major bank holidays? You may want to cross them out if you’re planning a wedding within the year, since these will be very popular with guests for booking holidays. If it’s more than a year away, then you’ll probably be ok.
5. Sporting fans? Annoying as it may be if you’re not a sporting fan, I’ve known couples who’s day ends up being swallowed up into the FA cup final, with half the men crowding around a little TV. If you’re huge sports fans, you can make this work to your advantage, if not, probably avoid these weekends.
6. Think budget, if money is no issue, then you can have free reign of every weekend in the year. If you need to watch the money pot a bit, avoid Saturdays in June/July/August and bank holidays in May. You may also want to consider mid-week weddings, which can offer a huge saving!
7. Now, to the venues! Hopefully you should have a rough idea of ideally 4 possible weeks for your wedding date. Now start the great venue hunt and see if any of them are still available, et voila!